


Frostbite

by stealyourshiny



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: Fluff, Frostbite, Lyriumchristmas, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-14
Updated: 2016-12-14
Packaged: 2018-09-08 15:13:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8849905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stealyourshiny/pseuds/stealyourshiny
Summary: A gift for @moustashleigh on tumblr for the @teamblueandangry Let it Glow event!





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [moustashleigh](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=moustashleigh).



Hawke was gone for the month. Something about Qunari and spies and Dukes. What it meant, however, was that Hawke was elsewhere with Varric and Isabela and he was here. In the cold. And the wet. And now snow.

It never snowed in Kirkwall. Winter here was always wet and rainy and depressing and muddy, and Anders looked forward to actually getting to hide in Hawke’s library to work. Which he couldn’t do now. Because Hawke was gone.

He sighed and gazed up at the magelight hovering over his head as he tried to work on his manifesto. The thin blanket over his shoulders started to fall and he caught it, pulling it tighter again. The fire in the room kept the whole room heated, but not a lot. The room was pretty drafty in general and the two inches of snow in the streets above was not helping.

Anders rubbed his hands together and tried to focus on the paper in front of him again, but it wasn’t working very well - to Justice’s frustration. He rubbed his eyes next and sighed when someone started pounding on the door. He didn’t move for a moment, hoping vaguely that the person on the other side would go away, but eventually pulled himself to his feet.

“I’m coming!” he called, and shuffled over to the door, unlocking and pulling it open a crack to see who was there. He blinked and opened the door further. “Fenris?”

The elf was standing on his doorstep rubbing his arms and shifting from foot to foot. “M-mage.”

Anders stepped away, letting the elf enter and immediately removing the blanket from his own shoulders and putting it over Fenris’. He looked down and saw that the elf’s feet were red and his leggings seemed to be soaked up to his knees.

“Fenris, you need to take your leggings off. Probably all of your armour. Is anything numb?” He immediately began collecting more blankets off empty cots.

“D-don’t be r-ridiculous m-mage. I am j-just c-cold.”

“Fenris, you’re shivering, you’re feet are red and wet, your nose is red, your hands and arms are red. Maker, are those blisters? Fuck, take your clothes off _now_.”

The elf seemed surprised by the order in the mage’s voice and opened his mouth to argue almost immediately, but the mage threw another blanket, over his head this time. “Please, Fenris. You have frostbite. If you don’t do as I say immediately you could lose those toes and possibly any fingers that are also blistered.”

Fenris huffed and began to remove his clothing as best he could with numb fingers. Anders had already moved away, filling a wooden tub with water from a pump. When it was as full as he could get it, he stuck his hand in to warm the water with magic before gesturing to it.

“Get in. I know it’s not very big, but try to cover your hands and feet in the water if you can.”

He watched as Fenris moved toward the tub and wrinkled his nose. “It might hurt a bit as the water warms your limbs up again. It’ll feel a lot hotter than it actually is on your hands and feet.” Anders didn’t want him claiming blood magic and intentional harm after he thought about it, and turned away from the elf to go to the fire. He could hear Fenris finally get into the water and hiss at the discomfort.

When he reached the fire, Anders added a little extra wood and set the kettle over it before turning to the shelves and beginning to pull down bandages and a healing potion. Behind him, the water sloshed a little and he heard the elf clear his throat.

“…Mage?”

“Yes?”

“What happened?”

“You have frostbite.” Anders turned back to the elf and moved toward the tub. He pulled a stool up and sat down next to Fenris. He picked up the blanket Fenris had discarded and wrapped it carefully around the elf’s head to cover his red ears. “You should have had a hat and gloves and boots on.”

“I refuse to wear boots.”

Anders snorted and smiled at the strange picture the elf made, sitting nude in the tub with his hands in the water between his legs and the blanket wrapped around his head. “You don’t have to, but you might lose your toes next time, or your fingers. Possibly ears.” Anders uncorked the healing potion while looking at the elf thoughtfully.

“Don’t be ridiculous, mage.”

“I’m not being ridiculous. People lose entire limbs to frostbite. It’s strange to be so cold in Kirkwall, but in Ferelden and Orlais it’s fairly common during the winter.”

He saw Fenris’ eyes widened slightly. Anders held the potion bottle out. “Drink half. I’m going to pour the other half over your toes and fingers when they’ve warmed up more.”

After Fenris took the potion and drank the half, Anders put his fingers barely into the water and warmed it up again before taking the bottle back. “Give me a hand.”

Fenris lifted a hand and watched as Anders poured some potion onto a clean cloth and then rubbed it gently over his reddened fingers. The mage smiled slightly as he could see the elf sigh in relief as the redness lessened.

“Other hand, please.” Anders waited as Fenris put his hand back into the water and handed off the other one. They worked quietly getting his fingers and toes and the tips of his ears. The blisters faded, but the appendages still seemed cold. “So how did you get the frostbite? Were you rolling around in the snow?”

Fenris scowled at him, looking like a miserable, wet cat in the tub. “I woke to find the stuff in my room. I went to Hawke’s to get out of it, and realised that they were gone to that castle. I tried to go to the Hanged Man then, but by the time I got into Lowtown I was shivering and couldn’t feel my hands and feet.”

Anders nodded. “It’s good you came here. It’s not as warm as Hawke’s place, but there’s no snow and the floors are wood and dirt, not cold stone.”

“Thank you, mage. For helping.”

“Of course, I wouldn’t turn you away, despite our arguments.” Anders got up and began to collect the blankets again. He put the elf’s clothes near the fire to dry them out better and put the towels down near Fenris. “When you feel like your hands and toes aren’t numb anymore you can get out and wrap up in the blankets while your clothes dry.”

He saw Fenris nod out of the corner of his eye and began to make tea from the kettle he’d put on the fire earlier. By the time he was done, the elf had wrapped up in the blankets and settled on a cot by the fire. Anders handed him some tea and smiled again and sat down across from the elf.

“You know, I got frostbite once. I was escaping from the Circle by swimming across a freezing cold lake…”


End file.
